Smart Growth Law Sparks Land Use Battles

"The Smart Growth land-use directive didn't cause much of a stir when it became law on the coattails of a 1999 state budget vote. But tempers are flaring as communities realize the degree to which they must tailor every land-use decision by Jan. 1, 2010...Protracted, cantankerous battles between developers and development neighbors plague local decision-makers these days...Smart Growth strives to give rhyme and reason to Wisconsin's hodgepodge of town, city, village, county and state land-use rules through a single document. Before the law, only 29% of communities in Wisconsin had land use plans, and some were scant on detail..."